Northern Europe Day 10: At Sea

After 5 days porting, we welcomed a relaxing day at sea.

Mom and Dad at breakfast

We went back to the kid's play area and played.  Kensington read books and we all built with blocks.

In the 50 degree weather, the Shull 4 went swimming in the heated kid's pool.

After lunch, Lovie took Smith to the arcade.  He LOVED it!

Ken and me at dinner

This was our last night on the ship.

This was September 10.  My mom's actual birthday is September12 (the day we flew home), so we had an early surprise dinner for her.  They brought out her cake and sang to her.

Happy Birthday mama! 

This was our last night on the boat.  Tomorrow, we get off and discover Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Northern Europe Day 9: Stockholm, Sweden

Today, we headed off to Stockholm, Sweden.  We had to take a bus and a train to get there from the boat...this is little mister on the train. 

Group shot!

Kensington is digging into her purse looking for something.  I mainly wanted to show the streets on Stockholm.  They were very narrow and all of the little shops and restaurants were tucked in tight. 

Lovie and Kensington window shopping

We stopped for dessert (I know...more dessert) at the oldest bakery in Sweden.  My kids are sitting out front singing a song (loudly, I might add).

Papa Jay tying Smith's shoe

Papa Jay and Smith have a very special relationship.  Next to Andrew, my dad is Smith's favorite person.

I took a picture of my dad taking a picture of the group.  My dad is kind of the picture Nazi.  By day 9, we were tired of his antics.  If you zoom in, I'm sure you will see an irritated expression on everyones face :).

Playing with her new horse.  Every kid needs a horse from Sweden, right?

Getting back on the train to head to the bus to head to the boat.

We finished off our day on the boat with dinner followed by ice cream and crepes (of course!).

I thought this picture was funny because while I wasn't looking, they swapped desserts.  Now, she's eating his ice cream and he's eating her crepes.

Next stop...rest at sea.

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Northern Europe Day 8: Helsinki, Finland

I was super, super excited about visiting Finland.  I had always wanted to visit Finland and Sweden, which is one of the biggest reasons we took this trip.  Finland did not disappoint.  This was my very favorite day!!

 Who wouldn't want to eat breakfast next to this guy every day?!?!

We took a little 10 minute bus ride from the ship to downtown Helsinki.

Smith liked the bus :)

It was chilly (probably high 50s) but Kensington insisted on using her jacket as a blanket instead of wearing it.

Love you Andrew!

Finland was so beautiful and super clean.  The city is built around parks and the water...there was an old town part and a new city center section.  It was lovely.

As we were walking up the street, we smelled this delicious aroma.  We went inside this tiny little bakery and found one little old lady baking away.  I ate a gigantic cinnamon roll and one chocolate cookie for lunch.  It was the best cinnamon roll and chocolate cookie I have ever eaten.  And if you know me, you know I've eaten my fair share.

Smith loved his tour of Helsinki.

Yes people...we are back at that bakery.  After we walked several hours more, we went back past the bakery and ate some more.  I have no shame.  It was delicious.  I am tempted to pay the airfare to Helsinki today to buy some for lunch tomorrow.

On our way back to the boat.  It was a nice walk along the water.

Our crew

Andrew and I took the kids to dinner on the ship that night.  Smith slept right through it.  Finland was FANTASTIC!  I will definitely be back one day.  I want to spend a week there.  It was wonderful.  Next stop...Sweden.  Very fun!

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Happy Birthday Kensington!

I'm interrupting vacation photos to wish my sweet girl a happy third birthday!

These pictures were taken on Tuesday, her first day of school.  Sweet girl woke up at 3:30 AM ready for the day (darn jet lag).  She was so sweet, stayed up and watched TV and played, then headed off to school.  She never fussed, she never complained, she was so sweet and so happy to be going back to school (despite the fact that she went to sleep at 8:45 (after 13 hours on an airplane) and woke up at 3:30).  What a trooper!

I know I've blogged about this a hundred times, but it must be said again.  Kensington Kate Shull has been the biggest surprise of my life.  Three years ago today, the Lord blessed me with a sweet girl that I wasn't always sure I'd be able to have.  She is my little miracle baby.  She makes me laugh.  She amazes me with the things she says.  She is such a blessing to her dad, brother and me.  I love you so much Kensington.  You are better than I could have ever imagined.  God blesses me every day with you.  Happy Birthday baby!

Click here to see her original birthday.

Click here to see her first birthday.

Click here to see her second birthday.

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Northern Europe Days 6 & 7: St. Petersburg, Russia

When we booked our cruise, we had two days in St. Petersburg, Russia.  In order to get off the boat in Russia, you had to either stay with a tour group the entire time (being shuttled in a bus, taken to lunch, and lead on a tour of some museums and stuff) or you had to apply for a Russian visa...well, we're not the "tour group" kind of people.  We like to go off on our own, explore at our leisure, and do what we want to do.  So, several months ago, we all applied for our visas.  I had no idea how complicated this was...Andrew spent hours over the course of 6 weeks, communicating with the Russian Consulate, turning in applications, correcting and revising applications and finally getting us our visas (after paying the nice price for them...).  Then, everyone kept telling me how we would be robbed, mugged, killed, tortured, etc. within the first few minutes of arriving.  I had several people act as if I were taking my children to the red zone in Afghanistan.  So, needless to say, after all we invested into these two days and after all of the grief, I was a little frazzled upon arriving in Russia and you know what...everything turned out beautifully.  Russia welcomed us, we had a wonderful time, I bought several things for my home, we ate great food and my kids ran around like crazy soaking up the cool weather.  Russia was fantastic!

The cab just dropped us off in the middle of St. Petersburg.  In this picture, we've been in Russia about 8 minutes and so far, I haven't been robbed :).

Kensington was less than impressed with Russia.  She'd rather nap.

The famous Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood

We're smiling because so far, we haven't been assaulted :)

We went into a great bookstore where I bought a St. Petersburg book..  (I collect cook books and travel books)

A very yummy lunch outside

Kensington ordered pizza

Smith asked for more Fruit Loops before his chicken arrived.

Kensington asked to take pictures with my camera while we shopped.  She snapped this one of Smith.

This one of Lovie.

And this one of Papa Jay.

We went to this great farmers market and of course headed straight to the cookie section.  Who needs fresh fruits and veggies when you have homemade pastries?  Sooooo yummy!

We walked through a park (still haven't been mugged yet) and let the kids play on the play ground.

Such a great first day in Russia!

Day 2 started a little drizzly but was wonderful.  Andrew asked these two police officer looking people for a picture.  I'm not sure they understood him but they cooperated.

Dad and me :)

Smith looks like he's having fun, right?!

We spent the majority of the day touring St. Peterhof.   It was a grand palace with beautiful gardens.  We toured (my kids did great on the tour!), had lunch, and walked the gardens.  It was cold and kind of rainy, but we were all cozy warm.

Kensington loves her Papaw and Grandmother (they're actually her great-grandparents...shhhh...don't tell my Grandmother, she's in denial that she has great-grandchildren).

In the back of the cab headed back to the ship.  It was about an hour ride.

We finished off every single day with a stop at the crepe place on board the boat.  My new theory in life is "a crepe a day keeps the doctor away".  They were so good!

Then we let the kids run around on the very top of the ship as we sailed on to our next port.

After that...we all hit the karaoke bar to watch Andrew sing.  Here's the thing...Andrew Shull is quite the ladies man.  (I know, shock, shock, right?!).  BUT when you get him on board a ship with 1000 old ladies, he's really a rock star.  These women LOVED him.  He participated in karaoke night 4 or 5 times while we were on board.  The old women couldn't get enough Andrew Shull.  So funny!  He did a great job!

Up next, my absolute favorite port...Helsinki, Finland.

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